Alternate Ending to Aladdin
by Mountain Frost
Summary: What if things didn't go so smoothly after Aladdin defeated Jafar? One-shot about how things could have gone differently.


Aladdin Alternate Ending

Aladdin cradled the lamp in his hands. The sunlight danced off of the golden surface, making it glow like the dessert in the early morning sun. Aladdin could feel magic tingling beneath his fingertips, almost to a beat of a hypnotic, mysterious song. The lamp almost seemed to be a living thing.

"Well, Aladdin," the Genie said cautiously, "You did it." The Genie hovered on Aladdin's left, watching the boy curiously. The smoke tendrils the Genie had for legs curled in circles around the railing of the balcony, as if grasping it.

Aladdin looked over the city of Agrabah. He could see the silk shawls gleaming and sparkling in the light. He could smell the sharp tang of the spices even up in the palace. He watched the children run around in the streets, he could hear the vender's shouting their goods to the population, but mostly, he could hear the buzzing of life in the market, and he smiled.

"You're right. I did," he said almost dreamily. The fight with Jafar had been the most heroic yet reckless thing he had ever done in his life. But finally, his keen whit had triumphed over the power drunk sorcerer, causing him to wish himself to be a Genie and trapping himself forever in the bondage that came with the power.

Aladdin frowned. "Genie, how are other Genies made?" he asked.

"Well, when two Genies love each other-"

"No! Not like that!" Aladdin said, holding his hands up as if warding him off.

Genie laughed, a deep, guttural sound that seemed to shake the balcony. "Actually, it doesn't work like that," Genie explained. "You see, Aladdin, there are always the same number of Genies, unless there is a special case like Jafar."

"How is that?" Aladdin asked.

"Well, I can't tell you that. It is a big secret among us," Genie said. "So, there are the same number of Genies, unless people wish to be one or…" Genie paused and got a far off look in his eyes, "Or someone wishes us free."

Aladdin glanced sadly at his friend. He had always thought of himself until Genie had come. Aladdin realized that even though he was a street rat, at least he wasn't in bondage.

The Genie's blue hue dimmed a bit and he softly whispered, "I wish I was free…"

Aladdin smiled slightly. "Me too," he said.

The Genie nodded. Suddenly, his head jerked up, and he starred at Aladdin as if he couldn't believe what he had just heard. "Wh-what?" he gasped, his eyes brimming with tears at the prospect of freedom.

Aladdin smiled even broader. The Genie watched him hesitantly. "Genie, I wish you to be free as my final wish," Aladdin said, holding up the lamp.

From the lamp spouted blue mist and sparkles like tiny stars.

Genie suddenly began to lower and shrink in size. The blue mist rapped around him, clouding him from view.

Aladdin couldn't see Genie, but he could hear the tingling of magic as it became louder. He heard two loud, metallic clanks, and the mist began to clear, dissipating the magic too. The magic seemed to slither back into the lamp like a giant, blue snake.

Aladdin grinned as he saw a man standing before him. The man was a little taller than he was and wasn't as ballooned up as the Genie was. But Aladdin could tell that by his squarish jaw, his black hair and goatee, and the golden ring in his ear that this was, or at least used to be, the Genie. The Genie was now a man.

He stood there in shock, looking at his hands that no longer had the golden vambraces on them. On the ground, the vambraces lay open. Genie stood there, watching the golden cuffs as if they would jump up and attack him.

"Genie?" Aladdin asked tentatively.

"No. My name isn't Genie," he said, somewhat harshly, but Aladdin couldn't blame him. "My name is Muhtal."

"Muhtal," Aladdin repeated as if trying the word out. "You're…a man!"

Muhtal smirked impishly. "Yes, I am. All Genie's are human before they were transformed," he said.

Aladdin wasn't sure what to think of this. All of the were Genies were people, trapped in lamps or other artifacts forever unless someone wished them free. For a moment, he felt bad for Jafar.

"But wait, how were you turned into a Genie?" Aladdin asked.

Suddenly, Aladdin felt strange. He felt a tingling inside of him as if his blood had been replaced with powder. At first, the tingling tickled a bit, but then it began to hurt. It filled him until he felt he would burst. The lamp suddenly began to spout purple mist. The mist suddenly surrounded him until he could barely see anything.

He tried to take a step back but realized he was floating. Suddenly, he began to grow in size, his arms gaining more muscles. He watched in fascinated horror as his hands began to change color two. Purplish red began to spread up his arms, and he could feel it rise up onto his face. He felt like he was going to explode as the magic pulsed inside of him. The rhythmic beating of the magic in the lamp seemed to grow with him, filling his ears. He seemed to be drowning in the sound.

Suddenly, the two golden cuffs soared towards him, clamping shut on his wrists. Aladdin yelped in terror.

"Genie, what is happening?" he screamed.

Instead of a worried look, the former Genie was smirking and rubbing his hands where the cuffs used to be. "This is the secret," he said. "The reason there is the same number of us is that every person who wishes a Genie free, becomes a Genie. Naturally, we can't let word get out or else no one would wish us free."

Muhtal laughed at the mortified look on Aladdin's face.

Aladdin looked down at himself to see that purple-red mist had replaced his legs. The cuffs on his hands were the heaviest thing he had ever lifted and seemed to drag him down.

The lid on the lamp suddenly snapped open, drawing Aladdin in.

"No! I won't live like this!" Aladdin screamed, trying to struggle away.

The magic seemed to rap around him like ropes, pulling painfully tight, and beginning to drag Aladdin into the black hole in the lamp.

Aladdin struggled as hard as he could, but the magic only tightened around him. Aladdin looked pleadingly up at his friend.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he pleaded as he began to sink into the darkness inside the lamp. "I thought you were my friend!"

With a final tug, the purple mist sucked Aladdin into the lamp and into a magical slavery, finally coiling in after him. The lid of the lamp snapped shut, sealing the its new captive in the black hollow of the lamp forever. The lamp hummed pleasantly as it always did.

Muhtal strode over and picked up the lamp. "You ain't never had a friend like me," he said.

Fun Fact: the word 'Muhtal' is an Arabic noun for 'trickster'.


End file.
